--The idea that the FBI could fail to disclose thousands of pages of evidence to the defense in the biggest capital case in American history should give us all pause. If prosecutors at the absolute top of the legal food chain are so dishonest or incompetant, what does that say about local law enforcement? City and country District Attorneys? University cops?
To be sure, Timothy McVeigh will not have anything overturned or re-examined except during his official autopsy. What WE need to re-examine is our adversarial, market-based system of justice. Any cursory glance at legal documents will demonstrate that prosecutorial misconduct is so embedded in our system that it's usually problematic to even call it misconduct. Concerned citizens ought to complain loudly about this top-level snafu, whatever our stance on the legalized euthenasia of racist murderers.
--While I'm at it, should death penalty opponents publicly protest the execution of McVeigh? It seems to me that if our principles are as categorical as we make them out to be, we ought to remind those around us that it is just as unjust to stick a needle in McVeigh's arm as it is to kill the poor, often innocent people on death row everywhere.
--Finally, in keeping with the penal/legal issues of the day, a poll:
While many people are currently reconsidering the denial of voting rights to convicted felons who've served their time, I wonder why we don't just go ahead and let convicted felons both IN AND OUT of prison vote. Should prisoners be given the right to vote?
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